This morning I watched a reality show. It involved a man who had some trouble starting his car. He was on the verge of flooding it. What made this interesting is I could be a participant, like many reality shows. But instead of merely voting, I could actually offer suggests. Kind of like on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire with the life line choices.
Before you start asking what channel this was on, or which network, stop for a moment. Think. What interactive thing could allow me to offer advice to a person on how to start their car and prevent it from flooding? Well, such interactivity would be incredible for the entertainment industry. But there’s one problem. The entertainment industry could never actually do it. You see, the network was called my balcony. That’s right, it happened in front of my apartment.
What exactly is the reality in Reality TV? It can’t be the scenarios, because most of them are scripted. Reality TV ended when COPS went off the air. That was Reality TV. Dirty Jobs, that’s Reality TV. Big Brother? Survivor? Fear Factor? Gimme a break, those are so scripted it’s not even funny. I know for sure that I’m always stuck in a house with gorgeous people that barbecue and lounge around in a hot tub. Or get dropped onto some tropical island and have to “survive”. Survivor should really try this. Drop the bikini clad set in the Arctic. In January. Oh that’s right, they wouldn’t do that. You can’t see toned bodies through a parka. You want survival, that would be survival.
At least the educational shows have some merit. Dirty Jobs shows you some of the dirtiest jobs in the world. You actually learn something. Survivor, Big Brother and any show like them should stop calling themselves Reality TV and start calling themselves what they really are.
A game show.
They hold no more value than Monty Hall and Let’s Make a Deal. At least with Who Wants To Be A Millionaire you could learn some interesting trivia. With Survivor you just learn how absolutely cutthroat and manipulative people can be. Instead of promoting the best in people, it promotes the worst. At least with Let’s Make A Deal people put on funny clothes and could make you smile. Even if a person won a crappy prize (like a donkey pulling a wagon) they still seemed happy because for a brief moment, in all that craziness, the spot light was on them. Survivor just makes me feel dirty after watching an episode.
As reality shows go, I’ll take the ones where I can learn something. Or watch the guy try and start his car. My advice, by the way? I’m not a mechanic.
Until next time…
…keep ‘em flyin’!
